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'Budget is good despite slowdown'
'In the long-term point of view, the minister is pursuing the right policy as he is widening the income-tax net and reducing indirect tax rates,' says economist Dr U Sankar.

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A Welfare Budget: Minister
'It will give an impetus to industry and business because of the lower fiscal deficit and proposed tax reforms,' says Minister of State for Finance Ginjee Ramachandran.

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'Debt is the new mantra'
'For too long we have been trying to catch our tail on equities and have more or less ignored the debt market,' says Udayan Bose, chairman Lazard India.

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A distressing sale
'Whichever way you look at it, BALCO is a dud deal. The price is wrong. The methodology is opaque and unconvincing. The choice of buyer, unfortunate. Someone somewhere has made a terrible mistake and it needs to be quickly corrected. Otherwise, we have a serious problem of credibility out here,' says Pritish Nandy.

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Leaders on the Budget
What do Manohar Joshi, I K Gujral, Mulayam Singh Yadav, etc think of the Budget? In Real Audio.

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Nothing extreme in the Budget: FM's wife
'There was a feeling built up that it would be harsh. But the Budget is soft with a lot of things that economists had been expecting. And despite that he hasn't been too harsh on the ordinary people.'

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Very positive!Jewella C Miranda captures the mood at the CII Budget summit in Bombay.

'Sensex should cross 4550'
'The only disappointment is the complete absence of any big-picture reform. Many small measures, but nothing massive,' says stockbroker and host of the Rediff Money Chat, Ramesh Damani.

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'This Budget is blatantly elitist'
'The Budget is definitely not pro-farmer. It is not unexpected, as the government is very obedient to the implementation of structural adjustment programmes of the World Bank,' says farmers leader Professor M D Nanjundaswamy.

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'The Budget is pro-agriculture and pro-industry'
'Keeping in mind that Quantitive Restrictions will be lifted in April, Sinha has increased duties to the maximum limit to help agriculture and industry,' says Heavy Industry Minister Manohar Joshi.

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'The FM has done a good balancing act'
'If he is able to implement the proposals he has outlined, he should be able to maintain the fiscal deficit below five per cent,' says Sunil Kant Munjal, MD, Hero Cycles.

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'A hat-trick IT Budget'
'The loan scheme for students will help a lot of youngsters to go in for higher education. The future of the software industry has been secured,' says Dewang Mehta, president, Nasscom.

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'Interest rates will fall'
'The Budget is well balanced for the long-run growth of the economy. But there is nothing in it to kick-start the economy from its slowdown:' Mahesh Vyas, director, Centre for Monitoring the Indian Economy.

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'Efficiency will increase with compact staff'
'It is a great Budget because the finance minister has initiated action on many fronts, like corporate taxes, indirect taxes, infrastructure, agriculture, government expenditure and downsizing of the government:' Tarun Das, director, CII.

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'This makes the Rail Budget feel like a bad dream'
'This year, the deficit has been on track. For next year, a lower fiscal deficit has been targeted. If this trend continues, we should be beginning the process of correction. We will most certainly not go the Mexico way,' feels economist Dr Isher Judge Ahluwalia.

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'I was expecting a harsher Budget''The finance minister seems to be a little more serious this year, about getting people into the investment mode, rather than the savings mode,' says Britannia Chairman Sunil Alagh.